In a systematic fashion, several methods for esterification and amidation of single‐walled carbon nanotubes have been evaluated with focus on efficiency and reproducibility in forming covalently functionalized products soluble in organic media. The outcome of transformations was determined using IR, Raman and NMR spectroscopy and by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Amidation proceeding via a SWNT‐(COCl)n intermediate yielded the expected covalent product, whereas carboxylate salt formation dominated with other attempted methods. Esterification was achieved via the acyl chloride method and via alkylation of SWNT‐(COO–)n, the latter being the more efficient method. A non‐covalent solubilizing interaction was obtained for RNH2 but not for ROH (R = octadecyl), proving that the most important non‐covalent interaction between oxidatively cleaned SWNTs and octadecylamine is a salt formation. The outcome of the secondary functionalization of carboxyl units is highly reproducible for experiments carried out on the same batch of SWNT‐(COOH)n. Normalization of the outcome of the secondary functionalization to the composition of the different batches of starting materials reveals an overall high reproducibility of the secondary functionalizations. The differences in outcome related to different commercial SWNT batches from the same synthetic procedure is negligible compared to that resulting from differences in overall carboxyl content after the primary HNO3 oxidative cleaning step. Hence, the composition of purified SWNT starting materials always needs to be assessed, in particular before drawing any conclusions concerning differences in outcome from reaction systems involving different sources of SWNT material. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2009)

Ditopic binding of various dinitrogen compounds to three bisporphyrin molecular tweezers with spacers of varying conformational rigidity, incorporating the planar enediyne (1), the helical stiff stilbene (2), or the semi-rigid glycoluril motif fused to the porphyrins (3), are compared. Binding constants K a = 10 4 -10 6 M´1 reveal subtle differences between these tweezers, that are discussed in terms of porphyrin dislocation modes. Exciton coupled circular dichroism (ECCD) of complexes with chiral dinitrogen guests provides experimental evidence for the conformational properties of the tweezers. The results are further supported and rationalized by conformational analysis.

We have developed a microwave-assisted, reagent-free method for the efficient primary purification of MW and SW carbon nanotubes that is extremely fast compared to previously reported processes. The treatment dissociates and disperses non-nanotube carbon in an organic solvent to yield very pure carbon nanotubes within a few minutes of heating and a simple filtration, without the involvement of acidic/oxidative reagents. According to thermogravimetric analysis, Raman and IR spectroscopy, as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopy, the process yields pure nanotubes with a low degree of defects.

A new [60]fullerene dumbbell consisting of two fulleropyrrolidines connected to a central ferrocene unit by amide linkages has been prepared and fully characterized by elemental analysis, (1)H NMR, UV/Vis, fluorescence and mass spectrometry. The electrochemical properties as determined by cyclic voltammetry show ground state electronic communication between the ferrocene and the fullerene units. In addition, the preparaton of a ferrocene building block for an alternative linking approach is presented.

SWNTs and MWNTs have been non-covalently functionalized with glycosides in a reversible manner, and fluorescence titrations have been used to quantify the formed supramolecular assemblies which for SWNTs exhibits increased water solubility.